The “purpose” of my professional career has naturally evolved to be centered on  coaching with individuals, departments, programs, and organizations challenged to reach aspirational performance levels and strategic goals.  To help others learn how to learn.  The most significant influencers in my life have been athletic coaches, my parents, leaders, and curious learners that encourage and accelerate a discovered growth potential in themselves to excel.  I’m not a fan of status quo performance and simply putting in your time.  I have always had a passionate curiosity gap to compile and translate what others have learned in their craft or experiences and invest with people to apply that learning.  Thus the title of this blog, Applied Learning.

While completing a Masters of Science program in Education and immediately thereafter, I invested my formative professional years of development in coaching college football.  I then worked with my wife and first two (of four) young children “parenting” in a family home with seven teenagers on the campus of Father Flanagan’s Boys Town for over three years.  These two very intense experiences facilitated tremendous opportunities and experiences to learn the potential impact that exceptional leadership, influence, and coaching can have.  Pursuing excellence with others in whatever you do requires active learning, shaping, adapting, and building with a clearly shared intent on the value to be pursued and attained.

I won’t believe that it is someone else’s responsibility to teach me what I need to know or that we can learn everything we need in a training room.  I certainly wouldn’t recommend preparing a team for an athletic competition by simply presenting a game plan in a classroom.  Progress is dramatically accelerated by understanding what motivates people, leading by example, demonstration, and coaching within the moment of application.  Good ideas and game plans are simple, executing an impactful and capacity-building strategy is not.

As learners, leaders, and coaches, we all have tremendous knowledge gaps that we must strive to fill if we are to become excellent in our crafts.  We  also have unprecedented opportunity and access to the experienced knowledge of brilliant practitioner’s, authors, teachers, leaders, and coaches if we strive to fill these gaps with purpose.  My goal is that this blog will help you to establish and invest in your self-initiated and applied learning plan each day to confidently move toward your professional and personal purpose; excellence.

MITM